Conventionally, in television sets and display devices for displaying information, attempts of arraying a plurality of display devices (which may be referred to as a tiling technique) to realize a pseudo large-screen display device are being made. However, using the tiling technique has a problem of visible joints between the plurality of display devices.
This problem will be described by taking a liquid crystal display device for example. A liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel, a backlight device, circuits for supplying various electrical signals to the liquid crystal display panel, and a power supply, as well as a housing in which to accommodate these. The liquid crystal display panel includes a pair of glass substrates and a liquid crystal layer provided between them. On one of the pair of glass substrates, pixel electrodes, TFTs, and bus lines are formed, for example. On the other glass substrate, a color filter layer and a counter electrode are formed. Moreover, the liquid crystal display panel has a display region in which a plurality of pixels are arrayed, and a frame region around it. In the frame region, a sealing portion for ensuring that the pair of substrates oppose each other and also sealing and retaining the liquid crystal layer, an implementation of driving circuitry for driving the pixels, and the like are provided.
Since no pixels are arrayed in the frame region, the frame region does not contribute to displaying. Therefore, when a large screen is constructed by arraying a plurality of liquid crystal display panels, joints will occur in the image. This problem is not limited to liquid crystal display devices, but is a problem common to direct-viewing type display devices, e.g., PDPs, organic EL display devices, and electrophoresis display devices.
Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose display devices for displaying an image which is free of display panel joints. The display devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 include a light-transmitting cover on the viewer's side of the display panel. An edge portion of the light-transmitting cover includes a portion where its viewer's side surface is curved. The curved portion functions as a lens, and therefore will be referred to as a “lens portion” hereinafter. The lens portion of the light-transmitting cover is provided so as to overlap the frame region of the display panel and a portion of a region of the display region adjoining the frame region. A portion of the display region that overlaps the lens portion will be referred to as a “peripheral display region”. Light which goes out from pixels which are arrayed in the peripheral display region is refracted by the lens portion toward the frame region. As a result, an image is also displayed on the front face of the frame region, so that a jointless image is displayed on the entire screen.